Exploring The Design Space Of DePIN Networks
In April 2022, we published our thesis on Proof of Physical Work (PoPW) networks (now, more colloquially referred to as “Decentralized Physical Infrastructure Networks,” or “DePIN” for short). In that essay, we wrote: “[PoPW networks] incentivize people to do verifiable work that builds real-world infrastructure. Relative to traditional forms of capital formation for building physical infrastructure, these permissionless and credibly-neutral protocols:"
Exploring Long-Term Staking in PoS Networks
Today, nearly every proof-of-stake (PoS) network offers rewards through protocol staking and inflation; however, none have yet to offer a killer feature: long-term staking. Term structures[1] allow investors to strategically lock up capital for distinct periods of time in exchange for generally greater returns on investment. In finance, term rates make up a yield curve, which is an essential ingredient into well-functioning financial markets.
The Hidden Costs of Modular Systems
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Over the past two years, the scaling debate has narrowed and fixated on the central question of modularity vs integration. (Note that discourse in crypto often conflates “monolithic” and “integrated” systems. There is a rich history of debate in technology over the last 40 years about integrated vs. modular systems at every layer of the stack. The crypto incarnation of this dialogue should be framed through the same lens; this is far from a new debate).
The Convergence of Crypto and AI: Four Key Intersections
The worlds of cryptocurrency and artificial intelligence (AI) have been evolving in parallel, with each domain pushing the boundaries of technology and innovation. As we continue to make strides in both fields, it is becoming increasingly clear that their futures are inextricably linked. In this post, we will explore four important intersections at the crossroads of crypto and AI.
From UGC to UGP: Consumer Brands & Co-Creation
Many have argued how co-creation will ultimately lead to the democratization of the creator class, re-imagine fandom, and turn fans into creators; however, this discussion stops short of the implications of co-creation on brands, which could be larger than the impact on co-creators themselves. In the past, brands created products and, more generally, culture, and proliferated this top-down via centralized, top-down media (Toby Shorin).
Web3-Native SQL
In the first wave of crypto innovation after Bitcoin, many developers forked the Bitcoin codebase to try to build other decentralized infrastructure and applications beyond digital gold. Some of the earliest forks included attempts at building decentralized databases that could be used for general purpose application development. In the wave of crypto innovation that followed Ethereum’s launch, teams began building BFT database engines.
Multiplayer Mode
Today, we are proud to announce our investment in Lore, the first co-ownership platform for web3 collectives. We led a $4M round alongside North Island Ventures, Seed Club Ventures, Balaji Srinivasan, Zeneca, Mischief Ventures, Sfermion, CMT Digital, Patricio Worthalter, Spice Capital, Sublime Ventures, and others.
Our Investment in Seed Club Ventures, a Venture DAO
Today, we are proud to announce our investment in Seed Club Ventures (SCV), a $25M venture DAO that invests in internet-native organizations, alongside Delphi Digital, Dragonfly Capital, Collab+Currency, SV Angel, Distributed Global, and others. SCV will be exclusively focused on early stage teams building communities, infrastructure and applications that leverage Web3 primitives to accelerate financial and human capital coordination to achieve their missions.
New Investment Partners at Multicoin
Today I’d like to announce that two of our longest standing members of our investment team, Spencer Applebaum (LinkedIn, Twitter) and Shayon Sengupta (LinkedIn, Twitter), have been promoted to Investment Partner. Both of them have done great work in finding lucrative trades in public markets, and in sourcing and winning competitive deals in private markets. But most importantly, both have also worked closely with many of our founders over the past several years to help them succeed.
Onboarding The Next Billion Users To Crypto Rails
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Today, we’re announcing we co-led TipLink’s $6M seed round with Sequoia. Our colleagues from Circle Ventures, Solana Ventures, Paxos, Asymmetric, Big Brain Ventures, Karatage and Monke Ventures also participated in the round. Nick Grossman wrote a thesis we’re fond of called The Butter Thesis which he defines as interactions and experiences that are super smooth—rich, easy, delicious.
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